Well, this has been too long coming, and it's nice to finally begin talking about ponies. Earlier this year I mentioned that a friend of mine recommended the show to me, and I have not been disappointed.
Currently, the only gripe I have with the show is that, in the few lines Big Mack gets in the new episode, he uses insane affectionate terms due to a love potion. He's the most prevalent male character next to Spike, and I was hoping for more Mack love than that. And, speaking as an engaged man, neither myself nor fiance go that far in terms of endearment. Close, but no. :p
When I began watching the show, I noticed that it actually put some material for adults to think about when they watch it with their children on Saturday mornings. And, let me say this: MLP is the return of Saturday mornings for me. This semester, myself and a few friends have begun a tradition of grabbing breakfast, and bopping to a friend's house to watch the new episode. It's been very fun to do.
One thing that actually got me thinking in an episode is the namesake of the article. One could conceive that the first eleven episodes of season one are about Twilight fitting in, both with her friends and in the larger community. In the episode, Ponyville is having a communal cleanup of winter, titled "Winter Wrap-Up," where they get rid of the clouds and snow to usher in spring. Everybody has a task assigned, but Twilight, being the new pony, doesn't know what she can do for it, let alone what she ought to do for it. Initially, it seems like they have everything in hand, and Twilight goes around to see if she can help out with anything. In essence, everything she tries is something she has never done before, and she fails at it spectacularly.
At least she doesn't half-ass her attempts. She even cheats and uses magic in one instance, when she already knows that Winter Wrap-up is supposed to be an entirely mundane communal project. Coming from a Classics background, I find it really awesome that Ponyville does stuff like this, since there were poleis that had events and festivals like that, but they were just for beautification of the city. Despite all the crap that the Athenians thought they were amazing at, they couldn't control the weather, so ponies win. :P
As for the resolution of the episode, Twilight notices that the various teams working have no organization whatsoever. Without a time table for anything, you have instances of there being too much snow to plant, or if there are not clouds around, animals waking up too early from their hibernation to help the transition to spring. So, due to her obsessive love of check lists, Twilight offers her services as chief coordinator of the event. And it works so well that it's the first time in years they've wrapped up winter just in time for spring.
What I take from this episode is a concordance with Twilight's experience in trying to help, whether or not she has the skills. Most times when I try something new, or help do something, it has a higher than normal probability of the whole project getting messed up or derailed. For instance, I helped a friend of mine with his Eagle Scout project, but having little skill in wood cutting (we were building a picnic shelter) relegated me to doing what little I could because I lacked the necessary skills to pull it off. But, because I'm used to everything going wrong and I know how to work with issues, I find myself volunteering for leadership positions because I enjoy it. Although I may not have the skills others do to get something done, I can keep people informed of what is happening, and making sure everyone is on the same schedule is among the most important aspects of a successful organization.
And I happen to have a copy of Robert's Rules of Order. ;)
I don't believe it really went anywhere, but Twilight clearly having the capacity to organize a large number of people to accomplish a task is something I would like to see brought up again in a future episode.
Initially, I didn't think that I would be able to identify much with MLP, but the writing staff was good enough that I even found something to latch onto with the show. That children are getting the kind of quality cartoons that I enjoyed as a child is quite remarkable, and the content still surprises me.
Like little kids playing matchmakers. ;)
Still need to see last week's episode, I was up too late and slept in.
See ya space pony.
